The Ministry of Economy has officially announced the opening of the call for submission of applications under the state aid scheme regulated by Government Decision no. GD 959/2022 for financing assets and/or salary costs. The period for submitting financing requests is scheduled between 1 November 2022 to 16 December 2022, when investors may file the relevant documentation.

According to the latest Position published by the Serbian Commission for the Protection of Competition, it is prescribed whether and in which cases the scope of one concentration can be several undertakings that are not considered interrelated.

A major amendment to consumer law is on the horizon in the Czech Republic, and although it has so far undergone only a first reading in the Chamber of Deputies, it is not premature to look at its content. As for the most part it consists of the implementation of European directives, which leave almost no room for deviation, no major changes to the proposed draft are expected to be made during the legislative process. Another focus of this legislative amendment is digital content, particularly the rights and obligations connected to its supply.

Back in February 2020, the new Personal Protection Data Law was published in the official gazette, which meant that North Macedonia was catching up with the European Union on personal data protection.

Based on Directive 2019/1158 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 July 2019 on work-life balance for parents and carers and repealing Council Directive 2010/18/EU (“Work-Life Balance Directive”), as of 2 August 2022 all Member States shall apply rules to improve work-life balance for parents and carers. In particular, Member States must ensure for working fathers at least 10 working days of paternity leave around the time of birth of the child and the paternity leave should be compensated at least at the level of sick pay.

Following a long lasting process since 2010 the European Court of Human Rights (the “ECHR”) held that Slovakia violated right to property due to the refusal of its courts to enforce an International Chamber of Commerce (the “ICC”) arbitral award ruling that the National Property Fund of Slovakia (the “NPF”) was due to pay BTS Holding (“BTS”) approx. EUR 1.9 million plus interest. (the “Decision”)

Research of major global agencies show that the realization of profit is proportional to the degree of trust that customers have in retailers, regarding the processing of their personal data. Retailers that consider themselves socially responsible should know that investing in the protection of customers' personal data is an added value for the company - this type of investment strengthens the trust of customers, contributes to strengthening the competitive position on the market and increases profit. Most importantly, retailers have to understand that the personal data they collect from citizens is not their property, and that the right to privacy is one of elementary rights of citizens, which they are obliged to process in accordance with legal regulations.

Under the Turkish Commercial Code, a commercial enterprise is defined as an enterprise, operating continuously and independently, aiming to generate income which exceeds the income thresholds stipulated for tradesman (“esnaf” in Turkish) enterprises.

Uncertainty and fluctuations in the energy market are raising concerns about whether it will be possible to keep warm in the autumn and coming winter.

On 1 September 2022, Emergency Ordinance No. 119/2022 (“GEO 119/2022”) amending Emergency Ordinance No. 27/2022 on measures applicable to final customers in the electricity and natural gas market in the period between 1 April 2022 and 31 March 2023, as well as for amending certain regulatory acts in the energy field (“GEO 27/2022”) was published in the Official Gazette of Romania no. 864 and entered into force on the same date. Below is a selection of the provisions set forth under GEO 119/2022.

On 5 August 2022, the Central Bank of Hungary (MNB) announced an update to its supervisory recommendation for credit institutions and Hungarian branches of credit institutions on climate-related and environmental risks. The recipients have to identify, manage, monitor and disclose climate and environmental risks.

On 14 September 2022 the European Commission ("EC") published a proposal for a Regulation on an emergency intervention to address high energy prices ("Emergency Intervention Regulation" or "EIR"). The EIR requires EU Member states to implement three different measures: (i) Reduction in demand for electricity, (ii) Capping market revenues for the generation of electricity from inframarginal technologies (renewables, nuclear and lignite), and (iii) Collection of a monetary solidarity contribution from the fossil fuel industry. The EC says that the intervention measures can be based on Art 122 of the Treaty of the Functioning of the European Union ("TFEU") which establishes a competence for crisis intervention in the energy sector. However, it is questionable if the EC's view is going to withstand a judicial review since Art 122 TFEU has a very limited scope of application and some of the proposed intervention measures appear to go far beyond that scope.

We can probably all agree that no one likes bad surprises, and the same especially holds truth with respect to unexpected outcomes of legal proceedings. When it comes to civil proceedings before Croatian courts, so-called “surprise” decisions were recently introduced into Croatian legislation by Articles 5 and 367a of the new Croatian Civil Proceedings Act which entered into force on 19 July 2022.

On 18 August 2022, a government decree on special rules for the employment of third-country nationals in Hungary during the emergency was published. According to the new rules, the list of cases in which the government office is not involved in the consolidated application procedure as a special authority, has been extended. This means that starting from 19 August 2022, government offices do not participate in the consolidated application procedure if the third-country national is employed by the general contractor or its subcontractor as defined under Act VII of 2015 on the investment related to the maintenance of the capacity of the Paks Nuclear Power Plant and on the amendment of certain related acts, including employment through a temporary agency, too.

The Parliament of Ukraine has adopted in its entirety draft law “On Joint Stock Companies” No. 2493, dated 25 November 2019 (“Draft Law”). The Draft Law is designated to align the regulation of joint stock companies (“JSC”) operation with EU corporate governance standards.

As of 1 July 2022, Hungary's already existing financial transaction tax has been extended to payment service provision, credit and loan provision, currency exchange and mediated currency exchange services provided on a cross-border basis in Hungary. Provision of cross-border services means financial services provided in a country other than the country where the seat, place of business, head office, or branch of the service provider is located. Basically, this means that non-Hungarian service providers providing such services to Hungarian customers will most probably be affected by this extension.

By Government Ordinance no. 16/2022 for amending and supplementing Law no. 227/2015 regarding the Fiscal Code, the abrogation of some normative acts and other financial-fiscal measures, published in the Official Gazette no. 716 of July 15, 2022 (Ordinance 16/2022), a series of amendments and additions to the fiscal regime have been made that concern, among others, the regime of micro-enterprises, excise duties, hospitality sector, part-time labour agreements, VAT etc.

Pursuant to Article 1524 of the Turkish Commercial Code (“TCC”) which was enacted in 2012, companies that are subject to independent audit are required to not only set up a website, which then will be registered to the trade registry and announced in the trade registry gazette, but also allocate a certain tab of their website for the necessary announcements required by law, within three months following the registry and announcement of their incorporation. Accordingly, Regulation on the Websites to be Established by Stock Corporations (“Regulation”) was enacted in 2013, to stipulate the principles and procedures regarding the website requirement.